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News: Nation

Activist Ledbetter presses for workplace equality

September 4, 2012 | Modified: September 4, 2012 at 10:31 pm
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Photo -   Women’s rights activist Lilly Ledbetter addresses the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Women’s rights activist Lilly Ledbetter addresses the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The woman whose name appears on the first bill President Barack Obama signed into law is urging Democrats to continue to fight for women's rights in the workplace.

Lilly Ledbetter told the Democratic National Convention Tuesday that more than three years after that law made it easier for women to take pay grievances to court, women still earn just 77 cents for every dollar men make.

She says while that 23-cent difference would not sound like much to someone like Republican Mitt Romney with a Swiss bank account and Cayman Island investments, it's critical to working women.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was in response to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling rejecting her claim of pay discrimination during the 19 years she worked at a tire plant in Alabama.